Marketa Vondrousova stuns Aryna Sabalenka in Berlin to reach first final since winning Wimbledon

In 2023, Marketa Vondrousova stunned the tennis world by becoming the first unseeded woman ever to win Wimbledon, and—at No. 42—the lowest-ranked woman to do it, since WTA rankings began in 1975.

Today, almost two years later, lightning has struck again.

The Czech, currently at No. 164 after missing most of the last year with a shoulder injury, has become the lowest-ranked woman to reach the Berlin final after stunning Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, in the semifinals of the WTA 500 grass-court event on Saturday.

Her victory over Sabalenka is her first win over a reigning No. 1, and she's now into her first final since conquering the All-England Club in 2023.

Sabalenka was coming off a grinder—on Friday, she came back from quadruple match point down to edge Elena Rybakina in the quarters.

But on Saturday it was all Vondrousova, who broke the world No. 1 four times, twice per set, en route to a one-hour, 21-minute victory.

Before this, the Czech's best career wins by ranking were five victories over world No. 2s—two against Simona Halep in 2019 (at Indian Wells and Rome), one against Naomi Osaka in 2021 (at the Tokyo Olympics), one against Ons Jabeur in 2023 (at the Australian Open) and one against Sabalenka in 2024 (in Stuttgart, on indoor clay).

It's been a difficult last 12 months for Vondrousova, who—after falling in the first round of her title defense at Wimbledon last year—ended her season and had shoulder surgery. Then, after playing a few events at the start of this year, her injury flared up again and she was out for another three months before making her comeback at Roland Garros.

Now she's through to her first final in almost exactly two years and will have a shot at her third career title, having also won a small indoor hard-court event in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland in 2017, as a 17-year-old (where she actually beat Sabalenka in the qualifying rounds).

Awaiting Vondrousova in the final in Berlin will be another surprise finalist in No. 49-ranked Wang Xinyu of China, who took out Liudmila Samsonova in the second semifinal of the day, 6-4, 6-1.

Samsonova was the 2021 champion in Berlin, and the current No. 20.

Wang, who upset world No. 2 Coco Gauff in the second round for the biggest win of her career, is into her first WTA final.

Vondrousova and Wang will be playing each other for the first time.